


Making You My Partner

by klutzy34



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Bounty Hunter Danny, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Science Fiction, Space Navy Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-04-21 22:43:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14295048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klutzy34/pseuds/klutzy34
Summary: One warrant. Killjoy Danny Williams had one warrant to complete before heading to his ex-wife's moon to spend the weekend with his daughter. When things don't go to plan (again), he ends up on the trail of a stolen weapon and the reluctant partner of one Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett of the Royal Navy.Written for the 2018 H50 Big Bang.





	Making You My Partner

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** All characters and places herein belong to their respective companies, CBS and SyFy. While I wish I could own them, I sadly cannot lay any claim and just borrow them for my own amusement and occasional creative trials. 
> 
> **Author's Notes:** This fic came very, very close to never making it to print but...actually, I'm still not entirely sure how it did. A lot of coffee and stubborn determination and picturing Danny as a thigh holster-wearing badass bounty hunter probably played a rather large part in it. 
> 
> This is a fusion with the TV series Killjoys on SyFy. If you've never seen it, I highly recommend it! I hope that the elements of that verse are accessible to anyone not familiar with the show. Speaking of, a big thank you to scribblescrabblings on Tumblr for putting up with my headdesking and grumbling about it being an utter mess by betaing this fic for me. Any and all mistakes and mischaracterizations are entirely my own.
> 
> A huge thank you to [3226629](https://archiveofourown.org/users/3226629/works?fandom_id=146772) for the fantastic art work that she did for this story. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your time, effort, and lovely work! You'll find it embedded throughout the fic!
> 
> And let me say thank you for choosing to read this story. There are so many wonderful writers and artists in this fandom. Please check out the H50 Big Bang 2018 collection over the next couple of days for several of them putting up their hard work!

“Watch it!”

The cart that emerged from the dark alley obscured the warrant’s fleeing backside from Danny’s vision, the elderly man dropping the rickety thing right in his path. Danny shifted his weight to his right, trying to avoid the cart’s front, but the adjustment wasn’t enough and it caught his knee, sending him sprawling forward onto Old Town’s filth-ridden street. His shoulder bounced off the hard surface and he rolled, finding his feet again with a little too much momentum and nearly ending up on his face again.

“Watch where you’re going, jackhole!” A glance back showed the old man shaking his fist at Danny from behind the safety of his wares, rows of rats roasted close to the point of turning into ash. While he didn’t see their demise as anything unfortunate, there were people around who would hand over some joy for the greasy meat. He remembered those days all too well, his family packed into a tenement apartment after the mining settlement they called home became a ghost town. The taste of rat, well, that was unforgettable too and Danny tried.

His bad knee began to protest as he lengthened his stride, arms pumping like pistons at his sides as he avoided the people that drifted across the street and disappeared again, the city a labyrinth of streets, alleys, and dead ends. Steam from the sewers below their feet pushed up through the grates, bringing the smell of sewage and decaying garbage, not to be confused with the refuse pushed off to the sides.

The city was a dump but it was home, had more heart and character than most places Danny visited these days, and it was a place he knew like the back of his hand from a childhood spent exploring every nook while his parents looked for work. As much as he hated being drawn into a foot chase, at least he had the element of surprise and an internal compass on his side.

“Talk to me, Tani,” he said, the thin, nearly invisible patch behind his ear that served as a communication device with his rookie partner catching his words despite the calamity of early afternoon. He dodged around another cart, this one reeking of old meat and vegetables, no doubt scrounged from outside one of the few decent taverns to create a stew for sale. This was why anyone that came from Old Town, and most likely the moon of Westerly entirely, had a stomach of steel. “I lost visual on him.”

Silence only lasted a beat before Tani piped up. “Not for long, boss. He ducked into an alley just ahead and to your right. I’d approach with caution,” she added, “because he started to slow as he entered. He might be thinking of an ambush.”

Danny huffed out a breath of annoyance. Why wouldn’t he be thinking of an attempting an ambush? It was bad enough he led Danny on a merry chase through the heart of town, knowing the chance of shaking the killjoy on his tail was slim, and now he wanted to turn it into a fight. While he’d take the fight over the running, neither was preferable. In fact, standing in the alley, contrite with the extra effort he’d caused, wrists held out to be cuffed would be the best case scenario.  

Not a single one of his warrants ever wanted to be that helpful though, making Danny earn every last coin of joy.

He slowed as he approached the alley, sliding his gun out of the thigh holster and making sure the setting registered ‘non-lethal’. “Did he come out the other end?” he asked quietly, leaning against the brick wall to draw in a deep breath.

“No, but someone went in. He may have a hostage or he may have backup. Either way, I’m coming around to that side so his route is cut off,” Tani replied, her voice slightly out of breath.

“Good read, kid,” Danny murmured, then rolled his body so his shoulder pressed against the wall, peering around the corner. Just down the way, he saw two shadowy figures, one with hands up and the other holding a weapon aimed for the chest. Danny cursed softly under his breath and, without waiting for Tani’s confirmation that she was in place, entered the alley, gun up and pointed at the armed shadow. “Put the weapon down.”

As his eyes began to adjust to the dim lighting and details became a little less vague, he realized the man with the gun was not his warrant. The man with his hands up? That one was and he looked like he was waiting for just the right moment to rabbit, not in the least ready to give up. " _Hey_! This man is the subject of a level four warrant issued by the Reclamation and Apprehension Coalition,” Danny snapped, “so lower your weapon and take a hike before I put one in your ass and make your night a miserable one.”

Which he’d end up paying the medical bill for if it came to that, but most usually weighed their grudge and possible injury and decided the former wasn’t worth it.

The man didn’t look his way, gaze still focused with laser intensity on the man in front of him. “Stand down, killjoy. This is military business.”

The urge to roll his eyes was strong. “If you think I’m going to accept that without some kind of ID, you’re space brained.” Tani should have been there by now but the other end of the alley remained empty, the occasional person passing by. Shifting his gun to one hand, finger resting above the trigger to avoid accidental discharge, he slipped his badge from his jacket pocket. “Danny Williams, Level Five, RAC.”

To his surprise, the newcomer reached into his pants pocket, pulling out an ID as well. “Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. Now that we’ve made acquaintance, you can lea-”

A brief slip of his gaze towards Danny was all it took and the warrant lept into action, arms dropping back to his side as he sprinted for the entrance. Danny dropped his ID and brought the gun up, taking aim and squeezing off a shot -

-which hit the warrant at the same time as another shot, both smacking him in the rear and sending him flying, numb legs and all, into a pile of garbage. A quiet moan followed a moment later from beneath the mountain of debris.

“All right, I can handle this from here, so if you have somewhere you need to be? Feel free to toddle off now,” Danny stated as he bent down to reclaim his ID, wiping muck stuck to the screen off onto his pant leg before shoving it back into his pocket. As he started to move past McGarrett, the man grabbed him by the arm and hauled him back.

“He’s a subject of interest to the Royal Navy, killjoy.” Danny turned to face him, for the first time getting a good look at Steve McGarrett. Tall, standing almost half a foot above Danny, dark hair trimmed to regulation standards, he was the kind of attractive that Danny would consider a bedding with after a few glasses of substandard Hokk soaked into his brain, blue eyes narrowed in a hard look that might’ve had lesser men backing away with their hands up.

“That’s fascinating but as I’ve said, he’s the subject of a Level Four Warrant. While that may not be familiar terminology to you, the RAC may be. You know, the independent organization with no affiliations that serves as a neutral party within the J-system? The one through which people can issue warrants anonymously and we fulfill?” he argued back, the finger of his free hand poking hard into McGarrett’s chest, rising on the toes of his boots in order to eat up height difference between them.

McGarrett’s grip tightened on his arm, leaning closer. “I’d put that finger away if I were you, Agent Williams, or you’re not going to like what happens nex - “ Feeling particularly ornery about not being able to wrap up his warrant and get on with his day, Danny made sure the next jab was particularly hard.

“You’ll find that I am _not_ a man to thre-” The world suddenly spun around Danny and he found himself staring at the ground, his arm pulled up behind his back and the shoulder he landed on earlier frantically informing him that it was not enjoying this new situation at all.

“That wasn’t a threat,” McGarrett said calmly from above him. “You’re going to inform your superiors that the warrant is now null, that we are now in charge of - “

Danny lashed his foot back, his toe catching behind McGarrett’s knee and jerking it forward. He didn’t end up on his ass, unfortunately, but it was enough for his grip to loosen for Danny to pull free. He glanced down the alley just long enough to see the warrant still lying in the garbage before he refocused on McGarrett, raising his fists up.

“You want him? You’re coming through me to get him because I haven’t relinquished a bounty yet and I’m not about to start now.”

“Or how about not?” Both men froze as Tani made her entrance, a younger man trailing in her wake. Like McGarrett, the sleeve of his jacket bore the insignia of the Royal Navy, but his expression wasn’t as hard, his movements not quite as measured and confident. He hesitated by the man laying in the trash pile as if unsure what to do, leave him and address the current situation or stand on guard. “How about, instead, we figure this out like civil people and save the violence and bloodshed for the people who really deserve it? I’m already never going to get Old Town stench out and I love this shirt,” Tani added, indicating the t-shirt she wore under her coat.

“I think she’s right, sir,” Tani’s companion said slowly, addressing McGarrett tentatively. “Agent Rey showed me the warrant for this man’s apprehension, just as we were given the mission of tracking him down. Since neither one seems to be wrong, perhaps we should inform our commanding officers and allow them to sort out the situation. He won’t be going anywhere.”

As if to give validity to his statement, the pile of garbage groaned again.

Danny stared down McGarrett a beat longer before he scowled and ran a hand through his hair. “Fine. Let’s figure out what the hells is going on here.”

\-----------

“The RAC is an independent organization for this very reason. We don’t answer to the company, we don’t answer to the military. The warrant is the only thing we answer to and if they’re not the ones that requested this warrant be issued, then I am not turning him over. If they are, then this is interference,” Danny argued, leaning forward in his seat to rest his forearms on the table.

In comparison to the afternoon spent in Old Town’s dim depths, RAC headquarters were bright and clean, the kind of orderly most people didn’t expect out of its rag-tag group of killjoys. Much like the work space of its upper echelon, the officers made sure the strict code of conduct was abided by and punishment for any infractions emphasized there would be no quarter given for flaunting the rules. It reminded Danny of the early days in the Company, when he was naive and full of dreams of saving the Quad, making it a better place for the moons within.

That came to an end fairly quick.

Tani sat next to him quietly, leaning back in her seat while her hands rest on the table, picking at an invisible hangnail. Across the table, McGarrett sat with his partner, a kid by the name of Junior Reigns who hadn’t quite gotten all the friendly kicked out of him by the Royal Navy yet. While Danny and McGarrett sat in stony, tension-filled silence on the way out to the RAC to meet up with their commanding officers to sort the issue out (and one dazed mercenary strapped down in the hold), Tani and Junior seemed content to quietly fill the silence with conversation.

McGarrett and Reigns were definitely special operations now that Danny could get a better look at them. The patch on the arm of the dark clothing they wore bore no mention of rank, an indication that they were on a mission that involved staying low and keeping away from anything that would draw attention to them. McGarrett continued to glare at him as he spoke across the table.

“Didn’t you say he was your warrant? Then the warrant is complete and we’re taking him,” McGarrett replied quietly, sitting ramrod straight, shoulders back, at attention even while seated.

“That’s not the way this works!” Danny argued back, throwing his hands into the air. “The warrant is taken to prisoner intake to be delivered to answer for his crimes, that’s how the warrant is completed!”

McGarrett’s hands came down hard on the table and he rose to his feet, leaning forward. “That is how this works. Your warrant is complete, my mission is still active and I need him to further - “

“Then maybe you should talk to prisoner intake after I turn him in and work out a deal because I am not dropping a warrant just because - “

“ _Boys!”_

Chin Ho Kelly pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling softly. “I have enough of a headache today without adding raised voices to this, so why don’t you both sit back down,” he suggested, spreading his hands to the chairs abandoned in the heat of the argument. “Please.”

Danny didn’t want to sit, he wanted to lunge across the table and throttle McGarrett, but out of respect for his superior officer, he sunk into his seat, arms crossing over his chest. McGarrett did the same, slowly and never taking his eyes off Danny. Maybe he could read minds and had an idea of what he was thinking.

“Before you two started to make your case before I could make mine, Commander White and I have looked into this situation,” Chin continued evenly, nodding to the man at his side. Compared to McGarrett’s intensity and Junior’s eager need to please, White seemed strangely at ease for a high-ranking military officer, a faint hint of amusement in his blue eyes. Something about him made Danny’s gut instinct uneasy but it was nothing he could easily pinpoint. McGarrett, on the other hand, treated White with the first warmth he’d seen out of the sailor yet.

“It seems a mistake was made with three different organizations involved,” White filled in amicably. “The warrant was never supposed to be issued. The Company issued the information to the RAC before we alerted them of our intention to take over the hunt for our man. The warrant was briefly available to be claimed, which Agent Williams did just shortly before it was voided out in the system.”

Danny closed his eyes and blew out a breath, hanging his head. Warrants were not often voided but on the rare occasion they were, it meant there was no longer a payoff. Nothing to collect on, the time he could have spent on an active warrant chasing down a dangerous man with even more dangerous affiliates.

He balled up his fists against his forehead, counting to ten before he slowly dropped his fists to the table. “It would have been nice if someone told me that before I spent the last two weeks flushing this guy out of hiding to collar him. It took a lot of my time and resources for no gratification.”

It wasn’t the joy either, at least not in the sense that he wanted to pad out his account a little more. Unlike a few of his fellow killjoy, Danny’s account remained perpetually low, enough for the essentials and the occasional gift for his daughter. The rest went home, to his parents and his sisters, trying to help pay for his father’s medical treatment for the black lung he had developed after years of working in the mines. Once the mines ran dry, the Company cut off compensation, which included the treatment.

“Which is impressive,” White replied, drawing Danny’s attention back to the present, his tone surprisingly complimentary. “This man is incredibly dangerous and able to avoid being tracked down very well.” Danny all but bit through his tongue to avoid offending the man with a sarcastic comment about maybe next time, he’d read the warrant more thoroughly. Instead, he nodded slowly.

“He has a long list of crimes to answer for, no doubt, but right now we need his help in pursuing men who pose an even greater danger at this moment.” A greater threat that White didn’t feel like elaborating on.

“So that’s it? You guys take him, I walk away?” Danny demanded but the vehemence was gone from his tone. He suddenly felt tired, the last few days of constant tracking and movement, the confrontation all weighing on his shoulders. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he sat back heavily in his chair. “That’s the read I’m getting from the table right now,” he added, looking to Chin Ho for confirmation.

Chin Ho gave him an apologetic look. “The applicant of the voided warrant is willing to pay a quarter of the original bounty for the work you did,” he replied, “but word from on high is the military gets the merc, not us.” He didn’t look any happier than Danny felt but Chin Ho was always the diplomatic one, the one Danny got along with because he told it how it was, a tactful honesty that Danny appreciated after exposure to one too many bureaucrats.

“Wonderful.” Danny rose to his feet. “If they could send that to my account, I’m going to use my quarter pay to go drink today out of my misery,” he muttered, tapping Tani’s shoulder to indicate they were leaving. She scrambled to her feet. Chin Ho drew in a breath to say something, but shook his head instead.

Feeling particularly spiteful, Danny didn’t even give McGarrett a backwards glance as he strode for the door.

\---------

“C’mon, boss. It’s fresh fruit. Even when you’re in a terrible mood, how can you resist fresh fruit?” Tani asked as she dangled the apple within Danny’s reach. He resisted the urge to lecture her on watching how much she spent, knowing full well fresh fruit of any kind wouldn’t be cheap, no matter how much someone haggled on the price. The Quad had suffered from years of being used up by the ruling elite, the Nine Families that lived on Qresh, and now fruit was one of the many things that were greatly desired but hard to find. Good, fertile land was hard to come by these days.

Still, Tani was grinning ear to ear, waving the apple around. “You know you want it. Imagine that crisp, sweet first bite, the juice running over your tongue and down your throat, tantalizing taste buds,” she teased. Danny snatched the apple out of her hand and pointed at her.

“I will take it just so you stop sounding like a sexxor. It’s strange and unnerving.” She wasn’t wrong though; the first bite of apple was near orgasmic, flavor exploding from the sweet juice. Whatever farmer managed to have a crop of those apples flourish was a miracle worker. He closed his eyes, taking a second bite and chewing slowly.

“Told you.” A sing-song tone in her voice, Tani leaned into his shoulder to give him a playful nudge before she suddenly stopped, pulling him to a halt beside her. “Hey, look at those.”

Danny opened his eyes, following Tani’s gesture to one of the many tables lining the paths of the Leith Bazaar, run by a single woman bent over a doll with needle and thread, studiously attaching an arm to its body. He moved out of the flow of people, reverently picking up one doll in particular, with brown yarn hair and a happy smile stitched on her face. Danny brushed a hand over her head with a fond smile. “How much for this one?”

The woman glanced up long enough to flick up several fingers before she returned to her work. Danny dug into his pocket, mentally tabulating the joy he had left. “That’s not gonna work for me.” He held up his hand, raising a smaller number of fingers. The woman shook her head again, flashing him the original number. If he wasn’t able to pay the price she demanded, then he wasn’t going to get much of her attention.

He gave the doll a regretful look and carefully set her down with the other dolls, just as the device in his pocket chimed softly. Stepping away from the table, he slid it out and checked the message.

Lou Grover, his warrant broker, wanted to see him at his place.

“You know, it’s just a tad bit eerie how he knows when I’m around,” Danny muttered as he returned to Tani’s side, showing her the message. She snorted softly and drew a hand across her mouth, wiping away apple juice. “I’m going to go see what he wants. You keep wandering and I’ll meet you back at the ship, all right?”

Tani wiggled her fingers in the air. “That’s dangerous, you know. If you’re not here to tell me ‘no’ and ruin my fun, who knows what purchases I’ll make,” she said, eyes glinting in amusement. Danny rolled his eyes but it was all affection, the sibling relationship they’d developed since she crashed into his life a little over a year ago part and parcel of their daily interaction.

“Just remember that if you spend all your joy, I’m not buying your beer,” he replied over his shoulder, pointing back at her.

The crowds of the bazaar were vastly different from those he’d grown used to in Old Town, far less hands out begging for joy and questionable items for sale, a lot brighter and better smelling. There was a period in his life when this became the norm, when he’d married a high-born daughter of Leith and end of week trips to the bazaar with their daughter became routine.

Lou Grover served his time as a killjoy, creating an impressive reputation for himself before he retired to mentor and serve as a warrant broker for the RAC. He was a lucky son of a bitch to most, as the killjoy lifestyle didn’t usually end with retirement. His no-bullshit attitude made him a favorite of many of the killjoys as well as his sarcastic sense of humor and ability to give back just as good as he took.

As Danny entered the small office space, Lou was standing at the counter, pouring what smelled like fresh Leithian coffee into mugs. “I hope that’s for me because we went dry. It was either let Tani have it or pay for a mug with my life,” he said, not waiting for Lou to confirm before he snatched up one of the mugs. “An apple and coffee. If my week hadn’t been so miserable, I’d say I was feeling lucky.”

The voice to his right side made him spin around, mug carefully held in one and while his hand went to his gun. Steve McGarrett sat on one of the couches that made up the waiting area, one arm resting casually along the back, a leg crossed over the other. He was still dressed in those mission fatigues. “Depending on the next few minutes, you might still get lucky.” McGarrett gave Danny a small smirk, rising smoothly from the couch.

“No one is getting lucky in my place unless it’s me and my wife,” Lou muttered, “and that said, Williams, you’ve been requested for a warrant.” He ran his hand over the screen in the tabletop with familiar precision, bringing up the warrant information and turning it to face Danny.

Anton and Victor Hesse. A long list of crimes across the J, including murder, theft, weapon dealers and terrorists by profession, equally demented brothers who decided human life wasn’t valuable unless they could profit from it. Disgusting human beings who were deemed deserving of a Level Five warrant. Execution.

As he finished reading it over, Danny became vaguely aware of McGarrett still hovering nearby and, feeling annoyed, he spread his hand in the middle of the screen to block the information from view. “Look, if you want to take warrants so bad, maybe you should change jobs. This one? This is mine. Not yours,” Danny snapped, waving at McGarrett before pointing at himself. “Mine.”

McGarrett glanced at Lou. “You want to tell him or should I?” Grover shook his head, muttered something about ‘violating the confidentiality of clients’, and chose that moment to excuse himself to the backroom. “I took this warrant out and requested you on it.”

Danny’s mouth dropped open, snapped shut, then partially opened again. Unable to find something to say, something intelligent anyway as he tried to process that new information, he ran a hand over his mouth to buy some time. “Why would you - you took one away from me and now you’re handing me a Level Five? If this is some kind of pity warrant, you can take it and - “ While a killjoy could make a fair amount of joy on a Level Five, as they could only be taken out by Fives such as himself who were capable of what skills they required, it was equally likely McGarrett was offended and this was his particular version of vengeance.

Special operations would know how to orchestrate something like that to make him look like a casualty of the warrant.

He drew in a breath, hand rising to point a finger in McGarrett’s face, when he beat Danny to it. “Jean Luc was extremely tough to track down. You found him at the same time that I did, which means you’re smart enough to put the small details together. He was also not as helpful as we hoped because his employers, the Hesse brothers, are the next level,” McGarrett explained, tapping the screen where the faces of the two men were still displayed. “And we’re running out of time.”

Despite his irritation with McGarrett, Danny couldn’t help but be intrigued. “So what? You want me to give it a shot?” he asked.

“This warrant isn’t submitted yet. I asked Lou to bring you in, knowing that I would need a warrant for what I was proposing. You agree, I’ll make it official. If not, it gets wiped out.” Now that sounded more like the man he was used to dealing with, what little they had. “I want you, and Agent Rey, working on this. Between the four of us, we come at this from two different angles, bring in different resources. I’m proposing we work together and I’m willing to put out a warrant to bring you on in an official capacity.”

Danny raised his hands, taking a step back. “Wait a moment, so what you’re saying is…”

McGarrett’s grin grew. “I’m making you my partner, killjoy.”

\-----------

“You took it? A few days ago, you wanted to kill the guy, muttering about circumventing the rules and playing unfair.” Tani drew the bottle of hoch closer and filled her glass. “Not that I’m complaining about having a new warrant, but I’ve never known you to change your mind about holding a grudge - ever.” She smiled cheekily as she raised the glass to her lips, taking a drink. The smile didn’t last long, however, as she dropped the glass to the table and stuck her tongue out. “Oh god, that is horrible.I think I accidentally bought watery engine lube.”

Danny eyed the contents of his glass as Tani shot to her feet and across the galley, banging through cupboards until she found a box of crackers. He sniffed it and then took a small taste, confirming that it was indeed terrible hoch but at the same time, he’d tasted much worse. With a small shrug, he drowned the rest, brow furrowing as he felt it wind its way down to his gut. “It’s not that bad but next time, you should leave the hoch buying to me.”

Stuffing a handful of crackers into her mouth to counteract the taste, Tani gave him a sharp look. “There is nothing wrong with my ability to buy booze, thank you. It’s not my fault that I just so happened to get the bad bottle,” she protested, one cheek poofing out like a chipmunk. Danny found it incredibly hard to take her seriously like that.

“Look, I was incredibly upset about the guy coming in and taking over our warrant after we put in all that work. As it turns out, so did the two of them. While the warrant ended with capturing the mercenary, he’s just a stepping stone to a very dangerous crew that could spell disaster for the Quad,” Danny explained thoughtfully, turning his glass on the table’s surface as he spoke.

“And while the Quad could use a major makeover, that’s not the way to get it done,” Tani filled in, staring at the opposite wall.

Danny snapped his fingers and pointed at her before he settled back in his seat. “That’s it. However we may feel about it, what we went through to get here, it’s still home, it’s still home to the people we care about.” His daughter on Qresh with her mother, Tani’s brother ensconced in the somewhat nutty religious order of Scarbacks that wandered the moons, offering forgiveness of sins through pain. “The joy on this job is pretty damn good but the allure is getting rid of two big threats.”

 _It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do._ He never wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a miner, at least before the mines closed, and while he ran wild for a while on the streets of Old Town, there was a line he never crossed. Instead, he looked to the men of the Company, thinking they were brave, working to change Westerly and the Quad for the better.

He’d been stupidly naive as a kid but it was the only luxury they could afford once the death of the mining settlement they’d lived in forced them to move to Old Town. They wanted to change the moon, the moons that made up the Quad. Fight hard, work hard. Join the Company, the extension of the ruling Nine Families of Qresh, do some good.

Then the older they got, the more they saw their world for what it was. Westerly’s natural resources had been used beyond replenishing by the people of Qresh, used up and moved on to other moons to support their own. The Company was corrupt as they came, spitting on the people of Westerly, abusing their power. Those who tried to hold on to doing the right thing became targets of the upper ranks, either disappearing, burning out trying to force back, or being forced out and discredited.

During the lowest moment of his life, someone offered him the chance at being able to do one of the few things he’d held onto from childhood. Most saw the Reclamation and Apprehension Coalition as glorified bounty hunters with a badge, something Danny had been guilty of at first. After his introduction to the RAC, becoming a killjoy, he found an organization that took its independence of the political forces in the J-system very serious, even the Qreshy Nine. The rough-looking killjoys had the talent and skills to find anyone or anything across the system, bringing to justice those who otherwise wouldn’t be because of intricate laws differing across planets and moons.

Take no bribe, make no allegiance. The warrant was all. Allowing him to choose his warrants meant he was able to help on his own terms, even if the client behind the warrant remained anonymous.

It was far from an easy job, the scars on his body a testament to close calls and near misses. He’d taken his fair share of beatings, been shot a few times, ended a few fights, bled more than it was probably ever healthy to. He’d also lost someone near and dear to him, the woman responsible for bringing him in in the first place, sponsoring him, setting him on his way. Grace Tillwell still should have been there, but walking away would have disgraced her.

The snap of fingers brought him back to the present. Tani looked at him in concern, pulling back her hand so she could cross her arms on the table, resting her chin on them. “Y’okay, boss? You went quiet and that’s never a good sign.”

Danny snorted and refilled his glass, shaking his head. “I can be quiet when I choose to be. There’s not always a deeper meaning behind it.” He tapped his fingers on the glass, chewing on his lip. “The Hesse brothers stole something from a Company transport, a weapon of some sort that they plan to sell to the highest bidder soon. A weapon no one seems to know anything about, which is just...terrifying. The goal is to put them out of everyone’s misery, but going into this not knowing what to avoid…” He trailed off with a helpless shrug.

“That’s why four heads are better than one on this.” The Hokk slashed over the rim of the glass and over Danny’s fingers and the table as he jumped in his seat, spinning to eye the galley’s entrance darkly.

“Do you not know how to make sounds when you walk like most human beings?” he demanded as he stood up, grabbing a towel from a nearby counter.

McGarrett dropped into a seat, picking up the Hokk bottle. “You got another glass?” he asked, glancing from Tani to Danny and back again, shaking the bottle. Tani slid her glass over to him.

“Here, have mine. The illusion of a good time disappeared with the first sip. Besides, mama’s gotta get some sleep,” she said, stretching her arms out wide and bending back, stifling a yawn. “We got a long couple of days coming up - oh! Boss, while you were booking our warrant, I picked you up something.”

As she disappeared out the door, McGarrett tilted his head in the direction she’d gone. “She’s a good kid, you know. Junior has a fairly high estimation of her already.”

Danny wiped up the spilled hoch and tossed the towel to the end of the table. “Already, huh? All she did was threaten to put a hole in him.” Settling in his seat again, he reclaimed his glass.

“He appreciates people who don’t take orders from just anyone claiming to be an authority in a position of power. Question until shown proof,” McGarrett replied. Danny watched him take a sip, the expression on his face going through the most change he’d seen since he met the guy. First consideration, then the wrinkling of the nose, forcing himself to swallow it down before the look of utter disdain. “This is horrible.”

Tani reappeared just in time to hear his appraisal, hitting him on the shoulder. “When you’re a guest on this ship, you take what we give you or you go without.”

Danny lifted his glass. “It is pretty terrible. I just happen to have a strong stomach.”

She held up the item she’d gone to retrieve, the doll from the bazaar beaming brightly at Danny. “Do you want this or not? I can probably find a little girl who would appreciate it.”

His mouth dropped open as she deposited it on the table in front of him. “Tani, I can’t - “ The entire reason he couldn’t get the doll for Grace had been his inability to afford it, something he certainly didn’t expect out of those working with him. “Tani, I cannot accept this.”

Her hand clapped over his mouth, stopping any further protest. “Grace will love this doll, okay? If you feel that badly about it, you can pay me back...half. I won’t take more than half.” Tani gave him a quick, chaste peck on the cheek. “My only family is committed to pain and living a life free of desires, remember? I’ve got joy to spend, unlike some people.”

Danny brushed a hand over the doll’s soft cotton dress, made of good quality fabric. “Thank you,” he said finally, slipping an arm around her in a quick hug. Tani hugged him back before slipping loose.

“Commander Sneaky, boss,” she said, nodding in mock formality to the two of them in turn. “I take my leave of you.” With that, she waltzed back out the door, leaving the two of them sitting in silence.

After a beat, it was McGarrett who finally broke it. “I thought finding out you were formerly of the company would be the most interesting thing I discovered tonight,” he said, then nodded to the doll in Danny’s hands. “How old?”

There was a softness that always came over him when someone mentioned his daughter, his love and pride in her unable to be contained. “Grace is eight,” he murmured softly, setting the doll on the table. He straightened her blue dress and yarn braids, picking a piece of extra string off a brown button eye. “She lives with her mother and stepfather on Qresh. I’m going to see her at the end of the month.”

McGarrett nodded slowly, swirling what was left of his drink slowly around the glass. “I couldn’t quite figure out why a Westy killjoy would have a Company uniform and Qreshy formal wear in a spare closet but...knowing that, it makes a little more sense now.”

“And you were digging through the closet in the room I gave you why?”

“It was in the closet in the room you gave me. I couldn’t sleep.”

“That’s all you should be doing in there.” Danny got to his feet, snatching up the glass to take to the sink. On his way back through, he grabbed the doll. “Better try and get some while you can. We hit the streets first thing in the morning. I know a guy or two who might have heard about someone looking to unload a weapon.”

McGarrett remained quiet and when Danny looked back, he was leaning forward on the table, shoulders slightly hunched. “Yeah,” he said finally, knocking back the rest of the hoch. This time, the disgusted expression was minimal. “See you in the morning, Williams.”

\---------

“I think it’s a good idea if you switch out your patch for now. People not quite on the law’s best side feel a little more comfortable talking to us than they do military. You guys are a few degrees away from Company.” Danny held out the extra RAC patch he’d liberated from his other jacket to McGarrett. “Tani is giving your boy her other one as well.”

McGarrett hesitated a moment before he took it, then stripped off the blue and silver Royal Navy patch on his shoulder to replace it. “Is this a good idea?”

No, it wasn’t his best idea and Danny, stickler for the rules as he was, didn’t feel comfortable doing it. He’d spent most of the morning weighing out both the pros and the cons of the decision until deciding it was worth the risk to insinuate that McGarrett and Reigns were fellow killjoys. They weren’t sure how much time they had, but it wasn’t much. There certainly wasn’t enough time to bicker with Company immigration agents looking for any reason to detain someone not properly documented.

“If you have a better one, I’d like to hear it. The way I see it, I present my ID as I have a million and one times on this moon, they give the rest of you a glance, then we’re on our way,” Danny replied, unlocking the weapons locker against the wall.

“And if they don’t?”

“Then I make their lives a living hell.” Out of the corner of his eye, he caught McGarrett’s smirk as he ducked his head. “What?”

The smirk immediately faded and McGarrett regarded him with that cool, military stare once again. “I feel like I just received some insight as to why you’re no longer part of the Company,” he replied dryly.

“What are you doing part of the military, huh? You could be up on stage, a regular comedian. Get all manner of rotten vegetables thrown at you.” Danny tightened the thigh holster’s strap around his leg and made sure his gun was secure. “If it’ll keep you off the subject, we had a difference in morals. I had many, they had none.”

McGarrett’s brow furrowed as he leaned back against the table. “Is the Company that bad or was the break up that bad?”

Danny hesitated in front of him, chewing on his lip. “Let me put it this way. You serve outside the Quad, yeah? The outer rings of the J-system?” McGarrett nodded, shrugging his shoulders. Danny held his hands out to either side. “The Quad might be the smallest part of the J with only three moons and a planet, but the Nine Families living on one of ‘em means we get the most of the Company focus, so yeah, they’re that bad. They’ve got a hand in everything and if the upper ranks are corrupted? I can guarantee you it’s gonna stretch all the way to the roots.” He lifted his hand high and then swung it through the air, going low.  “They also don’t really get along with killjoys. The local branches can’t really stand in our way, but they don’t have to help either. Guess which option they choose.”

McGarrett held up his hands, then pushed off the table. “All right, all right. I get it. So what’s on the agenda this morning?”

Danny drew a hand through his hair. “Tani and Reigns are gonna go check out a place across town. Me and you, we’re gonna visit a friend of a friend. Officer Kelly from the RAC, he put me in touch with the guy and he’s been a good source of information. Kamekona had his brush with the law a few-”

McGarrett’s brow furrowed. “Kamekona? That’s not a name you hear often and if that’s the guy I’m thinking it is…” He trailed off, breaking into a grin that took a few years off his face, made him look human. “He’s gonna be happy to help.”

\------------

The foot traffic near Kamekona’s place was light for midday, those who had jobs at them, those who could work looking for something that paid, and the night crowd still in their holes until early evening. Even the tavern was oddly quiet, a few patrons scattered at tables throughout the room, the alcoholics already getting down to business and what Danny assumed to be an illicit deal taking place in a corner, two heads close together, whispering back and forth.

Not his warrant, not his problem.

Danny approached the bar, leaning forward to rest his forearms on the sticky wood. “Hey, Nahele!” he called, lifting an arm to catch the kid’s attention. Average height, lanky, dark hair always a mess, Nahele was one more of the orphans Kamekona collected and found a job for. Whatever was in the big man’s past, and he certainly had a past with the depth and breadth of his less than legal knowledge, he was either trying to make up for it or maybe having a heart that big and a desire for a business required a change.

“Yeah?” Nahele flicked the towel over his shoulder, then gave McGarrett an apprehensive look. “New guy?”

Danny reached back, accidentally smacking McGarrett in the chest. When had he gotten so close? “Ignore him, he’s with me, I’m vouching for him, all that,” he said, waving his hand in the air. “I’m just looking for K. He in right now?”

Nahele licked his lips uncertainly, still not sure about the unfamiliar face, but he finally nodded. “He might be. It’s been a couple of days for him, so the usual’s been triple,” he replied. “Still interested?”

Triple? The cheapest Hokk he could buy to get a few minutes of Kamekona’s time wasn’t even worth the usual price. “Yeah, I’m still interested, but please tell me he’s got something better than that swill from last time. You can’t tell me he knows everyone like he claims and still can’t find a decent distributor.”

Shrugging, Nahele pulled a bottle from beneath the bar and inspected the label. “Supplies are low, we gotta make do with what we can get. Company’s breathing down necks lately, something’s got them all tied up in a knot.”

Danny exchanged a look with McGarrett, confirming they’d both arrived at the same conclusion. After the Hesse brothers relieved a Company transport of the weapon they were now looking to unload, the rest of the Company’s patrolling grounds paid for it by the tightening of security. It made smuggling a little harder, which no doubt meant the Jack addicts crawling the streets were about to get crankier as well.

“Fine.” Danny pulled a few joy bills out of his pocket, but McGarrett grabbed his hand.

“Tell him Steve’s here. Steve from Nova Cadets.” Nahele, with all the experience of seeing Kamekona work his magic, shrugged the statement off as if to say _waste of time, but all right_ , disappearing towards the back room.

“Of course you were a Nova Cadet. You must have looked so cute in your uniform, not a single wrinkle in sight, a miniature uptight version of yourself,” Danny turned to rest his elbows on the bar counter behind him, leaning back. McGarrett slumped down on the barstool beside him, giving him a lazy look.

“That’s classified.”

“Don’t be a jackhole. There’s no such thing as classified in Nova Cadets. They were all too happy to tell my parents why I was kicked out.”

To his surprise, McGarrett started to laugh. “How do you get kicked out of Nova Cadets?”

“You know what? I’m taking a page out of your book. That’s classified.” McGarrett pursed his lips, eyes narrowing.

“You spoke back to the ranking officers one too many times. Didn’t follow orders well. You preach about following the rules and yet you washed out of the most powerful organization in the Quad, maybe the J-System, and I think it was because you couldn’t, wouldn’t do what they said.” What started out in jest became serious far too quickly, the amusement Danny felt at finding out McGarrett had a sense of humor turning into a flip of the mental switch to shut down.

He should have shut down the conversation there, but instead shifted to one side, meeting McGarrett’s gaze. “Maybe doing what’s right sometimes means disobeying a direct order. A good soldier does what they’re told, not think about it, right?”

McGarrett’s gaze hardened. “Don’t start on what you know nothing about, Williams. I…”

Whatever he had to say, the tension rolling between them, it was interrupted by the tavern’s larger than life personality. “Now there’s a face I never thought I would see out this far.” Kamekona held up his hand and McGarrett leaned across the bar, grasping it and giving him a hearty clap on the back.

“I go where duty needs me to go. It just so happens the mission brings me here,” McGarrett replied with a soft smile. “When I heard the name, I figured it couldn’t be coincidence. You’re doing pretty good for yourself.”

Kamekona beamed at him, chin tilting up in pride. “Best tavern in Old Town.”

Danny settled down on the barstool, resting his boots on the bottom rung of the stool beside him, the one McGarrett was settled on. “It’s not that hard. I mean, it’s Old Town. They have bars over the public announcement screens so no one will steal one for a hit of jack.”

That earned him two glares. “I run an honest business here, no jack dealers allowed. Every night is full and no one steals my supply. They regret it if they try.” The smile he gave Danny was all teeth, reminding him of the story in one of Grace’s books. Back before the oceans dried up and most of the water was poisoned and polluted by the stripping of the land in search of replenishing resources, the water contained life, powerful creatures that ruled the water. One of those, the shark, had rows of sharp teeth, very sharp teeth that could easily take a chunk out of a man.

The smile Kamekona gave him right then reminded him of those sharks. “My, uh, apologies,” he said, lifting his hands to ward off further convincing. “We’re hoping that your business hasn’t gone too honest on us as of late.” He unzipped his jacket, pulling out a few bills of joy and hesitantly putting them down, sliding them towards Nahele.

The kid picked it up, rifling through. “He’s short,” he said softly to Kamekona. “Double, not triple.”

Danny scowled, digging into his other pockets, looking for any loose joy that might be floating around. The only thing he did actually find that didn’t belong was a partial handful of sand from the last job out in the Badlands. “Look, put it on my tab. I’ll come back between warrants, work it off. Play bouncer on a busy night or - “

A few more bills landed where his pile of joy had been, McGarrett tucking the rest away in the interior pocket of his dark coat. “The Navy pays us well and I never get a chance to spend it. Use whatever’s left to pay off his tab.”

On the one hand, he was grateful that McGarrett stepped in and made it seem like it was a contribution. On the other, he didn’t need the guy taking pity on him.

As Nahele checked the math for Kamekona, the tavern owner pulled two glasses from out beneath the bar and a full bottle. “I hear you got reason to be saving up these days. People coming to Westerly say the Navy isn’t needed as much as the army or the marines.”

That was news to him. He didn’t pay much attention to news about the military unless he had to take a warrant on the outer edge of the J-system. “Unfortunately that’s not just gossip,” McGarrett admitted reluctantly, accepting the glass given to him. “Dad said the Navy would be the first to go and we’d either be conscripted into one of the other branches or end up elite guards on Qresh. I’d rather eat glass than become a lazy moon guard for self-proclaimed royalty.”

Danny lifted his glass. “I’ll toast to that.” McGarrett tapped his glass against Danny’s, but didn’t drink, instead setting it on the scarred wood.

“That’s why there was no complaint when I asked to be the one to track down the Hesse brothers,” he added, intently focused on Kamekona, “after they killed my father.”

The Hokk, only little better than the swill Tani bought, went down the wrong way and Danny started coughing, thumping his chest in an effort to draw in a breath. “They did? You failed to mention that when you took out the warrant to bring me on board,” he growled between coughs, thumping the glass down hard on the bar. “That is just the kind of thing you are supposed to tell the people you work with so they know if you’ll go off the rails on a vendetta.”

McGarrett didn’t even look at him. “My father was on that transport, an independent contractor guarding that weapon. He knew nothing about what he was guarding, just that he and two other men were hired to make sure no one bothered it en route. They killed all of them, took the weapon. I asked my superiors to do this. I’m of better use hunting down them and their people than I am staying with a dying unit.”

Danny threw up his hands. “There is nothing in what you just said that would excuse why you didn’t tell me this! It’s a personal matter and I don’t care how repressed you military boys think you are, when it’s personal, it becomes unpredictable!” The two men in the corner were starting to take notice of their conversation, so Danny clamped his mouth shut, anger burbling internally instead.

“I did what I had to,” McGarrett replied quietly and despite that stiff upper lip and military bearing, the attempt to hold it all inside and appear more artificial life than human, Danny still felt the undercurrent of sadness and felt like shit. He deserved to know, something that big was a wild card and it didn’t matter how well trained, grief still caused people to act out. However, there was history there, very fresh history, and he couldn’t fault McGarrett, not entirely.

The awkward silence between all of them stretched on until Kamekona finally broke it. “That explains it. The Company gets somethin’ stolen and they finally get tough on shipments, especially around here. I’m gettin’ low on my good stuff because they’re so tight right now.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, eyes narrowing on a spot beyond McGarrett and Danny.

The two men in the corner table, Danny confirmed with a casual glance, turning a stretch into surveillance. “What is it?” he asked, keeping his voice low. Kamekona beckoned Nahele back to them.

“Tell them what you told me.”

Nahele shifted uneasily from foot to foot, wringing the towel in his hands. “When I went to take them their second round, over there, I saw a mark on one of their hands. I think they were Leithian First.”

Danny’s eyebrows shot up, mouth forming a small ‘o’ as McGarrett frowned. “Why would that be of interest?”

Leaning in, Danny kept his voice low, slinging an arm over McGarrett’s shoulders to make the conversation look less suspicious, more amicable. “Leithian First is a nationalist group. They hate Westys because they think we take their land, their farms. It doesn’t matter that the Seventh Generation Accord is actually shit and Qresh was just using it to keep us in line. That hatred runs so deep that they hate us for existing at this point.”

McGarrett tilted his head up slightly in understanding. “Two of them here on Westerly merits asking a few questions, don’t you think?”

Danny tapped his temple and then pointed to McGarrett. _Great minds think alike._ The two of them slipped off their respective stools, McGarrett taking the long way around to block the path to the door.

“You know, my parents always taught me that strangers are just friends waiting to be made,” Danny said as he flopped down in an empty chair, “and you boys look like you could use a new friend. The name’s Danny, Danny Williams.” He held out his hand, but neither man took it, instead regarding him as if someone dumped a pile of trash in the chair.

“That’s a little rude, don’t you think? A man offers you his hand in friendship and you don’t take it?” McGarrett added as he took the last seat at the table, motioning to Danny. “You think that’s rude?”

“That is definitely rude,” Danny agreed, pursing his lips slightly in an attempt to look hurt. “We’re just looking for some conversation while we have a couple of drinks, right? Right.” He held up his hand again. “So how about try this one more time?”

The younger of the two men raised his hand to grasp Danny’s before he thought about it, a reaction that was more instinct than well thought out. Danny grabbed the hand and pulled it closer, pulling up the sleeve. Sure enough, the tattoo on the inside of the wrist was just as Nahele indicated.

“You Leithian First boys are not only a long way from home, but you’re risking a nasty case of Westy cooties by stepping foot on our planet.” Danny glanced to Steve, thumbing at the young man who was shrinking back in his seat under the older man’s glare. “They don’t want us coming to their moon except to work for them, but they can come drink on our moon anytime they feel like it.”

McGarrett shook his head. “Nah, I don’t think that’s it. That’s a long way to come for a drink and, no offense to Kame, but the Hokk here isn’t worth the trip.” His hand suddenly disappeared under the table and the older man swore angrily, face scrunching up in pain. “Let go.” The cold look that came into his eyes, his expression going carefully blank, the special forces operator took over the friendly bar patron smoothly, almost terrifyingly so.

A moment later, McGarrett dropped the gun on the table. “See, this is vaguely insulting. We just sat down to have a chat and you’re threatening bodily harm.” Danny made sure the safety was on the gun before he slipped it into the back of his belt. “You too. If you don’t cough it up, my scary friend here gets to break your fingers. Come on.” He waggled his fingers at the younger man, who quickly gave his own gun up. The guy was definitely green. “That’s very good. See, we can be very civil about this.”

The older man looked towards the bar but Kamekona and Nahele had already disappeared. The only other person present was a drunk already passed out at another table, mouth open and quietly snoring. “Now, we can do this very, very easy. I ask a few questions, we leave you alone to go about your business. Believe me, I don’t want to associate with your type anymore than I have to.” Danny’s lip curled up in disgust. “So…” He trailed off, pointing to the younger man. “Your name again?”

“Tanner.” The table jumped as his companion kicked him underneath.

“I told father you shouldn’t come along,” he hissed. “You don’t have the backbone it takes to do this.”

McGarrett waved a hand between the two of them, stopping them before they got off track. “You two have to be brothers. My sister and I had our share of arguments.”

Danny laughed. “Just one sister? Count yourself lucky. Two sisters, one brother, one small room. We’re lucky outright war and bloodshed didn’t occur. However, that is not the point.” He drew his device out of his pocket, flipping through until the warrant lit up the screen, the Hesse brothers’ pictures side by side. “These brothers are the point. Is the reason why you’re here anything to do with these two?”

Tanner shot his brother a look, then looked down again, hands clasped in his lap. His brother glared resolutely at Danny, then at McGarrett, a small tick of the muscle in his jaw.

“Look, we know it’s not the scenery, it’s not the people. We don’t have anything worth buying around here. If you were looking for workers for your farm, you wouldn’t be so shifty right now. That leaves very few options,” Danny continued, pointing back and forth with the device until McGarrett slipped it out of his hand.

“None of them legal. Does this warrant cover associates?” he asked Danny, pointing down at the screen. For as rocky as their start had been, Danny found himself slipping into an easy back and forth with McGarrett, catching on to his implication with no trouble. He beckoned for him to hand the device back.

“Let me see. I’m sure I saw something about…”

“ _Joshua._ ”

“Tanner, don’t you _dare_!”

Tanner turned to Danny, eyes widening imploringly. “I don’t know who those men are. Someone made my father an offer, told him they had something that could help the cause. The message said we would meet someone here, they would tell us where to go. I didn’t want any part of this. Don’t put me in Westhole.” He grasped the sleeve of Danny’s jacket, knuckles turning white. “Please.”

Meanwhile, Joshua sat in his seat, face bright red. “What? Nothing you can add to that?” Danny asked.

“No,” Joshua snarled between grit teeth.

“Are you sure?” McGarrett asked pleasantly. Joshua suddenly inhaled sharply, his face taking on a deeper shade of red. Danny leaned to the side, peering under the table to see McGarrett’s iron grip digging into Joshua’s leg.

“The message told us to meet here at sunset, during the busy time, if we were interested in what they had to say. They told us the table to pick and gave us a phrase to respond with when asked a specific question.” Joshua suddenly deflated in his chair and McGarrett pulled his hand out from under the table, nonplussed.

“See, that wasn’t so hard. Now, what you’re going to do is get the hells off this moon. I mean that you will find the first transport back to Leith or get back on your ship or climb into your suits and spaceswim back if you have to, I want you off Westerly. However, before you go,” Danny added, leaning forward and giving them a dark, toothy grin, “I’m going to need you to tell me all about this meeting, the question, and the response.”

\--------------

By sunset, Kamekona’s was packed full of Old Town’s loud and rough looking to celebrate the end of another long day. The volume of voices made it impossible to distinguish one conversation from another, much less hear the one taking place at the next table. At the bar, Kono Kalakaua made moving from patron to patron look like a dance, handling the rowdy with a stern word and the regulars with a smile that lit up the room.

When they first met, he had a little bit of a crush on her.

Kono stopped at the end of the bar to talk with Tani, who looked to be introducing Junior if he read the gestures correctly. Junior ducked his head, slightly embarrassed but still smiling. “That kid doesn’t get a lot of social interaction outside the military, does he?” Danny asked.

McGarrett shook his head slowly. “None of us do, truth be told. Those planets, moons on the far end of the J, it’s less civilization, more fighting for land and resources. Water warfare has decreased a lot over the years, so they’ve started reassigning sailors to other branches. They wanted to reassign Junior and I to the Royal Guard on Qresh. All those years of training to patrol the waters around expensive homes.”

Danny took a slow drink from the beer bottle. “Soaking in entitlement, derision, intrigue, haughtiness,” he muttered. McGarrett tilted his head in acknowledgement.

“No shortage of that.”

The two of them fell silent again, nursing their beers.

“You know, uh, what we did earlier? That was kind of fun. Maybe you’re not so bad after all, McGarrett.” Danny couldn’t just let the silence sit, at least the silence between them when the atmosphere around them was loud enough to have his ears ringing when they left.

McGarrett glanced sideways at him, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Danny felt his heart flutter faintly as he realized the guy wasn’t just capable of thinking, somewhat intelligently, on his feet, but he had a nice looking face to go with it. He’d always imagined the military guys as big bruisers, heads a little empty, scarred and battered from battle after battle out there on the rim of the J. The guy beside him didn’t quite fit that preconceived mold, though neither did the kid with him. Still, there was something about McGarrett that, despite their rough start, Danny was warming up to.

“Likewise, Williams. I can’t say I get to do that often out in the field.” McGarrett took a drink, lips lingering on the bottle before he put it down. “By the way, ‘Steve’ is also something people call me from time to time. It sounds less formal,” he added casually.

Danny leaned back as if surprised by this new information. “Do you - do you have a sense of humor? All you military guys are not artificial intelligence after all? Or robots?” His eyes grew wide mockingly. “By the gods, it’s a miracle.”

McGarrett - Steve - scoffed lightly and shook his head. “I don’t think the gods had much to do with that.”

“That’s fine. I’m not a big believer in the old gods and Scarbacks creep me out. Think about it. They cause themselves pain for our sins, right? What kind of deity demands pain in exchange for forgiveness?” Danny explained, swinging his free hand in the air. The tangent wasn’t quite over but Steve grabbed his wrist suddenly, bringing it to the table as a lone man approached their table. “Someone had to give up their evening at the mod bar to come here,” he added in a quiet aside.

The constant flow of people from different corners of the J-system meant that the population was wide and varied, but it would have been hard to miss the tall man in leather approaching them anywhere. Studs ran up one earlobe, a modification of his right eye turning it pale blue while the other remained a darker hue. Black hair spiked up, head to toe black leather, people parted around him, either unconsciously trying to get away from the dangerous aura he gave off or well aware of his presence and wanting nothing to do with it.

The newcomer sat down slowly in the seat opposite Steve, casually giving both him and Danny a once over. “What price would you pay for freedom?” he asked, his voice just barely carrying over the noise of the crowd.

“No price is too steep for what should come naturally to man,” Steve replied, reciting the words the Leithian First brothers gave them with ease. The newcomer smirked slowly, which did nothing to soften his menacing presence, leaning forward with his forearms crossed on the table.

“I’m glad to hear it. Given the same last name, I thought I would be meeting brothers and you two...well, you don’t look like brothers,” he said.

While his killjoy brethren tended to have a talent for violence, and Danny could hold his own when he needed to, but his real talent lay in thinking quick on his feet. His right hand shot out, resting on the back of Steve’s neck possessively.

“So what are you saying? The only way two men can share a last name is to be brothers?” he challenged, fingers playing in the short hair at the nape of Steve’s neck. To his credit, Steve went along with it and Danny felt his hand resting on his knee, rubbing slowly. _...Steve? I don’t think he can actually see the motions under there, babe._

Then again, the touch wasn’t entirely unwelcome.

The newcomer rolled his eyes, holding up his hands. “That’ll teach me to assume, I guess. I try not to in this business.”

“And what business is that?” Danny felt Steve shiver lightly under his touch, feeling oddly proud of getting that reaction out of the sailor.

“Messenger.” The device appeared in his hand with the casual flick of his wrist, a show of sleight of hand, and he held it out to them. “My orders were to put this in the hands of those with all the right answers. You will find what you seek on here.”

Steve removed his hand from Danny’s knee to take the device. “If I wanted vague, I’d visit a Scarback monastery.” Danny didn’t appreciate vague in any form but especially not when the fate of completing a warrant hinged on details.

The man rose, arm sweeping dramatically in front of him. “I am but a humble messenger, as I said. Finding your way from here is up to you, to prove you have what it take to possess what you seek.” If Danny thought the bow was dramatic, the spin around, the sweep of his long coat out behind him, and the smooth disappearance back into the crowd put it to shame.

“I just...really want to punch him,” he said idly, making a fist with his free hand in the air. Steve remained bent forward, finger moving around the screen of the device, brow furrowed in concentration.

He still hadn’t moved away from Danny’s hand massaging the back of his neck and Danny realized he hadn’t stopped either.

“It’s an auction. They’re auctioning the weapon off,” Steve said finally. Danny leaned over, resting his arm on his shoulder to see the screen better. “This has coordinates on it, the location of a ship out in the J. They’ll be checking at the door and…” Steve squinted. “In order to participate, we’ll have to present something of high value. If I contact Commander White, he may be able to get us something, but I don’t know if it’ll arrive in time for us too…”

Danny sat back in his chair, closing his eyes and running his hand over his mouth. His financial condition was always in a state of bleak, but he knew someone that could afford the loan without batting an eye. Unfortunately, it would probably take a little groveling on his end. He hated groveling, especially when he wasn’t the only party at fault. Far, far from it.

It would also be one more card he put in her hands.

“I know where we can find something quick,” he admitted, sighing heavily. Slowly rising to his feet, he glanced over at Steve. “It involves a trip to Qresh and a few solid drinks in peace and quiet to get myself ready for it.”

\-------------

“Working long-term for the Company is a lot like a religion. The Nine Families are the gods and the job is the altar on which you sacrifice your morals to advance.” Danny spun the top off the bottle of Hokk and refilled his glass, reaching over to pull Steve’s closer. Fingers brushed softly as Steve sat up from his lazy sprawl in the chair across from him to push the glass further. The touch had unexpected consequences, a slight shiver winding down Danny’s spine at the feel of those calloused fingertips brushing his skin. He cleared his throat, focusing on replacing the cap on the bottle more than necessary. “I’ll do a lot in the name of helping my family and survival but the morals, the lines you build in life, what do you have left when you step over every one that you’ve set out for yourself?”

Steve chuckled softly, head tilting and eyes narrowing thoughtfully as he regarded Danny’s rhetorical question as an honest one. “I’m sure a place within the Nine Families, for one,” he answered finally, “though no offense meant to your Qreshy ex-wife.” He fell quiet as he took a drink, staring at the tabletop.

“I’ll mean that offense fully towards my Qreshy ex.” Danny lifted his glass in toast. “At least I’d like to sometimes. Whatever hard feelings exist between the two of us over our marriage falling apart, we still need to be somewhat civil to co-parent and...she’s technically a Leithian who inherited her Qreshy great aunt’s estate.” Not that Steve needed to know any of that. “Then she married an architect who was born on Qresh and…” He rocked side to side, indicating the passage of boring information unspoken. “So Grace has quite the diverse background. A father from Westerly, a mother from Leith, and a stepfather from Qresh.”

Steve arched an eyebrow at him. “Now all you need is someone from Arkyn and you’ll have the Quad covered.”

Snorting lightly, Danny waved a hand, the Hok lightly splashing around the sides of the glass. “Given the stories I heard as a child about that moon, my ex-inlaws might qualify.” Steve tossed his head back with a loud laugh, giving Danny a moment to appreciate how a few glasses had knocked down enough of the wall to see Steve relax. The laughter softened his edges, brought a brightness to his eyes that only amplified his good looks. Drew his attention to those lips and the question of what it would be like to kiss them.

Shit. Maybe Danny was done drinking for the night.

He set his glass on the table and leaned forward, arms resting on the table. “In all honesty, giving up the Company, the destruction of my marriage and her marrying a Qreshy dope, I look back now and it’s not the end of the J-system like I thought it would be at the time.” Danny ran a hand over his face, then rest his chin on his upturned palm. “Living like royalty hasn’t changed Grace a bit and...the last time I visited her, spent the week with her, she told me all about this science class she’s in. She’s eight but she’s brilliant, so smart and perceptive, and I could listen to her tell me about her day until I drew my last breath.” He picked up the rock sitting in the middle of the galley table, holding it up. The tiny crystals caught the lower light and glimmered as he moved it.

“Which is why you’ve been picking up little odds and ends everywhere we go,” Steve murmured, nodding slowly as if he’d just discovered the answer to some great mystery.

“Biology is her favorite. I know rocks are geology but right now, she’s got this idea in mind that she’s gonna save the Quad from the damage the Nine did using it as their resource bitch. So I visit a place, find a few samples, bring ‘em back to her. Thanks to Tani, I have a doll to take to her this time. That’s not always the case though, I can’t always...I can’t always afford something. I’m not being cheap but she finds the different moons and planets fascinating, you know? So it’s something I can give her.” The last time he’d brought her a plant from a moon outside the Quad and she’d hugged him so tightly that it seemed like she would never let go.

“She’s going to save the system. That’s a refreshing attitude.” The two of them sat in companionable silence, a far cry from their first meeting. Steve finally broke it by clearing his throat, still staring at the tabletop. “You’re a good father, Danny. She’s lucky to have you.”

Danny’s gaze drifted up to Steve, reading the grief in the furrow of his brow, the tight press of his lips. Whatever time had passed since that event, it was clear Steve put off dealing with it when he could, pushing it into some box in his mind, out of sight. Compartmentalizing. “I’m sorry about your father.” Words he should have said after hearing the subjects of his warrant were responsible for his father’s death but the day moved too quickly for them to find the time to breathe, much less offer sincere condolences.

Steve shook his head, a wry smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “It’s fine. We, ah, drifted apart. I hadn’t been home in a while. You know how it is when you travel a lot. You try to keep in contact but it’s not quite the same.” There were other deeper issues there but Danny was neither a psychologist, nor did he have any inclination to chip at that wall. “It gets quiet and distant.”

Instead, Danny rose from his seat and moved around the corner of the table. A pleasant warmth in his muscles from all the Hokk he’d imbibed, the usual patter of thoughts muted in his mind, he easily made himself at home on Steve’s lap, the edge of the table pressing into his back as he straddled Steve’s long legs, looking down at him. “Lonely.”

It didn’t occur to him that working on perceived chemistry may not work out in his favor, the Hokk giving him more confidence than common sense at the moment. Steve didn’t push him off, instead lightly grasping his biceps, his thumb brushing along the scar peeking out from Danny’s shirt sleeve and running down his bicep.

Danny kissed him, threw caution to the godsdamned void of space and kissed him. Not smart when they had to work together but Steve’s last words haunted him, how so much time away from home could make a life feel empty, cold. The reasons for being away, they might’ve been the right ones, for family, but sometimes distance and time caused aches that only the touch of another could calm and Steve...well, Danny’s gut instincts were usually more right than wrong.

He cradled Steve’s face in his hands as Steve’s hands slipped from his biceps, down along his sides and slowly around to cradle his ass. “You know,” he stated breathlessly between kisses, taking a moment as his head spun, whether from euphoria, his buzzed state, or both, “I thought we’d have to separate the kids with the way they were making eyes at each other first. Then again, you pissed me off so much at first, I never considered the possibility.”

Steve laughed softly before he caught Danny’s bottom lip between his teeth, tugging briefly before he let go. “What can I say? I got a thing for angry Westy killjoys.”

Danny drew in a breath as hands slipped up under his t-shirt, obligingly lifting his hands over his head to allow Steve to fight it up over his head and toss it away. Those lips started their way down the curve of his neck and Danny’s breath came out in a huff, balling up the fabric of Steve’s shirt in his hands.

 _This is a bad idea. Don’t sleep where you work,_ the voice of persistent worry in his head warned, not entirely smothered by the alcohol. Danny opened his eyes, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling, willing it to disappear back into the blissful haze. Unfortunately, it had both his attention and a good point just as Steve began to unbuckle the belt of his thigh holster. While he was not a coworker, a fellow killjoy, he was still his partner on this assignment and they were far from done fulfilling the warrant.

The warrant was all, always all, even over his static personal life and long-neglected needs.

“Wait,” Danny growled in frustration, pulling away from Steve. The man blinked up at him owlishly, ruffled and flushed, the temptation to drag him off to his bunk returning. Instead, with monumental effort, Danny rose from Steve’s lap and started searching the galley with dogged determination to find his discarded shirt. “This can’t - we’re tracking down two dangerous men with their hands on a weapon that could be devastating to the Quad, maybe the system,” he added, standing on his toes to catch the edge of his shirt and tugging it down from the corner of a cabinet.

“Right,” Steve murmured behind him and when Danny turned, he was scrubbing at his eyes with the palms of his hands, a very prominent hill pushing up the front of his cargo pants. Danny quickly averted his gaze, staring at a light fixture over his head. _Smooth, Williams._ “No, I absolutely understand. We need our focus to be on them, not…” Steve trailed off abruptly, rising to his feet and backing towards the door. “I, uh, I think I should hit the bunk. We’ll need to be up in a few hours anyway.”

Danny nodded slowly. “Yeah. Gabby will let you know when,” he said, motioning upwards to indicate the ship’s AI guidance system and personality. “So, uh...yeah.”

Steve’s hands dropped against his thighs with a soft smack, nodding as well. “Yeah. See you then,” he replied, then quickly ducked out the moment the door slid open, leaving Danny to stare at the place he’d stood a moment ago.

Once the door slid shut, his head dropped back against the wall with a thud, eyes closing as he groaned loudly.

“Would you like me to download something for use in your bunk to stimulate relief?” Gabby casually inquired, the sudden appearance of her voice interrupting the stream of less-than-complimentary names Danny internally chided himself with for letting Steve walk away.

“Gabby, have you ever heard the saying, ‘adding insult to injury’?”

“Yes, I have heard of many sayings in many different cultures.”

“Well, that is the only one that applies right now. I’ll take care of it. Thank you.”

\--------------

“Sometimes you hear about how green and blue things used to be. The way people describe it, it doesn’t do it justice.”

Buckled in one of the rear seats for descent onto Qresh, Junior’s expression was almost childlike in wonder as he took in the vast ocean waters spotted by vibrant green land, the properties of the Nine Families and the rest of the Qreshy population marked out by shorelines.

“Don’t let it fool you. Underneath the glittering expanse, they’ve used the land to the point of near collapse and that’s why they pushed outward, started occupying the other moons and planets. They get to keep their homeland by taking from others.” Danny gently tilted the yoke to the right, guiding the ship towards the all too familiar destination. “It’s a very exclusive moon and slightly inbred because they don’t like associating with the little people outside their standing.”

Behind him, Tani drew up her feet, wrapping her arms around her legs. As Danny’s partner, the occasional trip to Qresh became old news some time ago and the sight no longer held any kind of excitement. “And he definitely means inbreeding because I think the Nine Families just continuously have hate sex with each other to keep their population up, which is strange when you realize that while ruling with each other, they’re constantly trying to undermine each other for more power.”

Steve tilted his head back to look at her. “The idle lives of the rich and powerful.” While it was his first trip to the moon, Steve didn’t seem impressed either. If Danny were to make a bet, he’d say it was more the possibility of ending up there as a “lazy royal houseguard” to quote Steve’s misgivings directly.

“Deciding what’s best for moons they don’t even live on, people they don’t even care about, and the wide variety of tasks that their precious Company takes care of for them. Give me an honest day’s work any time,” Danny added as he straightened his descent out, closing in on Stan Edward’s opulent house.

“Didn’t you live on Qresh for a while?”

Danny wrinkled up his nose. “Absolutely not. Visited my ex-wife’s relatives against my better judgement? Yes. Lived? No. She was still living on Leith while we were married. Inheriting her great-aunt’s estate on Qresh came after we were divorced, much to the relief of her relatives. They probably spent so many nights unable to sleep, thinking of a Westy acquiring status they didn’t deserve on their beloved moon.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a bad thing. People from Westerly are starting to grow on me like killjoys are.” There was something in the way Steve said it, an almost soft fondness, that made Danny want to demand what he’d done with the real Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. Peripherally, he could see Steve glancing his way.

“Awww.” Tani clasped her hands together over her heart. “I’m going to treasure hearing that forever, especially in between all the insults we hear regularly.”

He landed the ship easily on the designated pad, powering down as everyone else started to unbuckle their seatbelts. “Are you sure you couldn’t retire here, spend day in and day out sitting around and pretending to be on guard?” Danny asked, falling into step behind Steve.

Steve shot him a dark look over his shoulder. “As I stated before, I would rather drink broken glass.”

A warm breeze rolled in off the ocean as they disembarked. Tani stopped and threw out her arms, then stretched them over her head, eyes closing as she tilted her head towards the sun. “If it didn’t come with the Nine Families and their people, I could get used to this weather,” she declared. One eye opened just long enough to grab Junior’s arm and pull him beside her. “Bask with me.”

The entertainment of watching Junior awkwardly trying to relax enough to bask ended abruptly when Danny heard the shout of ‘ _Danno!_ ’ from the direction of the house. Long braid bouncing behind her back, trying to keep her skirts from dragging on the ground, his beautiful little girl sprinted towards him, her smile stretching from ear to ear. Danny jogged in her direction, reaching out to scoop her up just as she got caught up in her skirts and started to tumble forward.

Grace’s arms wrapped around his neck tightly and Danny bear-hugged her, closing his eyes as he soaked up the presence he spent more time missing in a month rather than being in the presence of. After leaving the Company, the pressure in and the eventual destruction of his marriage it caused, there was no place for Danny on Leith and then Qresh, so he had to make do with their short weekends together and nightly holocommunications. Every time, she greeted him with so much love and affection that anything he’d endured in the time in between visits, missing her so badly his heart ached, it became worth it.

He set her down and crouched to her level. “Wait a moment, did you grow since I last saw you? You were definitely only this high,” he said, holding his hand a few inches off the ground. Grace laughed and grabbed his wrist, pulling his hand higher until it was just shy of her height.

“No, Danno, I was this tall,” she told him. Peering past him at the new people, her face lit up again when she saw another familiar face. “Tani!” She let Danny’s wrist go and skipped past him, arms wrapping around Tani’s waist as she bent to give Grace a hug.

“Hey Tiny, I missed you!” It warmed his heart how much of an aunt Tani became to Grace over the last few years, a relationship they both needed. Tani gained another person to call family, Grace another down-to-earth family member.

“Daniel.” In the flurry of greetings, the arrival of his ex-wife had gone unnoticed. Rachel stood a few feet away, arms crossed over her stomach. Danny got back to his feet, brushing his hands off on his pants, a motion entirely unneeded except to soothe a sudden burst of nervous energy.

“Rachel. You’re looking well.”

“You’re looking rough. Did you forget your razor again?” Danny ran a hand over his stubbled chin, shrugging a shoulder.

“When the demands of the job outpace downtime, sometimes things fall by the side,” he replied. “I doubt you are actually that concerned about my stubble growth, however, so I’m going to make this quick for the both of us. Please tell me you convinced Stan to go along with this.”

At one time, just after their fairly nasty divorce, convincing Rachel to go along with his proposal would have been an improbable nightmare. Time, distance, and co-parenting their little girl had smoothed out some of those sharp edges. Most of the time.

Rachel unfolded her arms, holding out a small flash drive to him. “He agreed to lend you the joy, on the one condition that he receives every bit of it back.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Danny took the drive from her and curled his fingers around it tightly, protectively. “Rach, thank you so much. Thank him for me. I will bring all of it back and if I don’t, on my word, he can charge me interest until I finish paying him back for it. _Thank you._ ” Without thinking about what he was doing, one more step had him wrapping his arms around her in a hug.

She went still in his embrace at first, then relaxed somewhat, arms loosely wrapping around him to return the hug. “I’ll not mention that unless some actually turns up missing. That is a good idea though,” she teased him. Initiating the end of the hug, she stepped back from him again. “Gracie? We should go get you ready for your lessons, all right?”

Grace, who had been demonstrating a new dance move for Tani, Junior, and Steve, stopped with her arms flung out wide, the happiness fading from her face. “Already?”

Every time. Every time he watched the sadness creep in to her expression when she realized that he was leaving, his heart broke a little more, irreparable. He spent more time without her than with these days, watching her grow up from afar and yet not realizing how much until one of their weekends together.

He crouched down again, reaching into the pocket of his jacket. “Monkey, come over here,” he said, beckoning with his free hand. Grace scuffed her bare feet sulkily against the grass as she walked towards him (and how she got away with that when even free time had proper decorum, he couldn’t figure), arms crossed tightly over her chest.

The doll brushed away some of the sulk, Grace hugging it tightly to her body. “That is from Aunt Tani and I and this,” Danny said, reaching into his other pocket to pull out the small pouch, “is a few more rocks I picked up for you. I’m going to be back in a few days to spend some more time with you, so I want to know everything you found out about them by then, all right?”

It was cruel, coming to Qresh, Grace knowing he was there, just to leave again. Every paternal instinct in his body railed against leaving again, wanting to tell the others to go ahead without him and sleeping in the garden if he had to just to spend more time with her. He rationally knew that he had to go. He was committed to the job, to the warrant, to being at the back of the two men and the woman standing behind him, pretending to engage in deep conversation just to give him a private moment with his daughter. “I’ll be back soon. That’s a Danno guarantee,” he whispered before he pulled back from the hug, pushing back a few wisps of hair that escaped from her braid.

“Okay,” she said softly. Danny rest a hand on the side of her face, unable to help the sad smile. Then he leaned in, gently kissing her cheek.

“I love you, Gracie girl.”

“I love you too, Danno.”

She pressed to her mother’s side, one hand grasping Rachel’s tightly, the other still holding the doll tightly to her chest. “Daniel, stay safe. Please. There are certain talks I do not want to have with our child, do you understand?” Rachel said firmly and the words would have been chiding if it hadn’t been for the softness in her tone.

“I’m always as safe as any RAC agent could be, Rach,” he replied, finding the nickname easy to slip out once again with a little warmth restored to their relationship. Reluctantly, he took a few steps back, moving towards his ship. They had places to be, things to do, but leaving was harder every time.

Grace let go of Rachel’s hand to wave and Danny turned to find Steve waving back to her with a kind smile.

\-----------

“All bow before my magic,” Tani called from the computer, throwing her arms up in the air and wiggling in her seat in a victory dance. “I turned you guys into a couple of angry farmers that will pass surface scrutiny.” She picked up one of the devices next to her computer, holding it out to Danny as he approached. “I don’t think they’re going to dig deep and try to find out what your favorite color is and who you lost your virginity to, so this will probably hold up.”

Danny arched an eyebrow at her. “Probably?” he echoed. “Also, why do I have to be Tanner? Who names their child Tanner?

Tani gave him a droll look. “Probably someone with a long history of working with animal skins. You know, someone who tans hides. You better work on not being such a city boy for the role.” Picking up the other device, she hopped up from her seat. “I’ll go make sure Steve get familiar with being Joshua before we get here.”

He flipped through the information Tani managed to forge, taking the two names they’d gotten from the Leithian nationalists and building backgrounds for them, just enough to make them seem like the kind of guys who’d want to buy a weapon with the misguided notion of defending their homeland from people who would never get the ability to take it from them. Danny scowled and shoved it into his pocket.

Even if they did, it wouldn’t be the people of Westerly doing the taking. It would come from a far higher and richer place.

\-------------

It wasn’t the first time Danny went undercover. Part and parcel of killjoy life, it was necessary to get close to warrants, find missing objects, follow trails. Since Danny chose to rely first on wits and words over fists and guns, he developed a knack for slipping into a role for a little while, asking the right questions and making the necessary connections.

That afternoon on the ship as they congregated in the hold to go over the plan, the navigation system set on autopilot towards their destination, Danny felt assured that they had a plan that would work, even if they encountered a hitch or two along the way.

The coordinates led to a ship several times bigger than Danny’s, about the size of a military troop carrier. Gabby picked up a shield moments before they were hailed, as the instructions on the device said they would be. Danny gave the code and after leaving them in suspense for several tense heartbeats, the ship appeared out of the black. The flat voice gave Danny instructions on how to dock.

Tani stayed behind with Gabby. Despite Danny being the ship’s owner, Gabby seemed to communicate better with the tech whisperer. Junior, however, was less than pleased not being immediately at Steve’s back and tentatively voiced his concerns. Danny didn’t blame the kid, not when he’d probably been Steve’s partner up until they started working on this joint venture together.

The plan continued to roll along smoothly just until after they boarded the ship.

“His father taught him always to be prepared but I think you and I have a much different definition of the word than he does. The paranoid type that lives off in the woods, doesn’t let many around,” Danny assured one of the guards in a loud whisper as his partner continued to pat Steve down and remove yet another weapon. While the invitation said they were allowed to be armed when they attended the auction, Danny didn’t factor in how a Royal Navy sailor would approach it.

“Babe, you and I are going to have a long, long talk about social conventions on the way home,” he added as Steve was relieved of yet another knife, tossed into a container with a lock. Danny hadn’t been aware he’d brought that many weapons on board his ship, much less on his being.

At the end of the pat down (twice over just to make sure they had everything), Steve was finally allowed to rejoin Danny. They were told to follow the corridor down to the fourth door on the right before the guards moved on to the next arrivals.

Danny’s elbow smacked into Steve’s ribs once they were far enough that the small motion wouldn’t be noticed. “What is wrong with you?” he hissed. “No one carries a small armory with them, not even me!”

Steve glared back at him, refusing to budge an inch on his stance. “The invitation permitted weapons. There wasn’t a limit set. I was well within my rights.” He reached down to brush his fingers against the gun strapped to his thigh, the one thing that he was allowed to keep. It was visible and if he moved to use it, the guards with rifles would win that race.

Danny’s hunch was that they wanted their very eclectic guest list to keep the level of tension as low as possible by giving them the impression they could protect themselves.

“What rights, the rights of badland survival? There is no reason in civilized society that one man should carry that many weapons on him. I can’t figure out where half of those were hidden!” He gave Steve a peripheral once over but to even guess would require a longer look. That annoyed him more than a little when usually, he was damn good at spotting a concealed weapon.

Steve grabbed him by the arm, pulling him closer. Since they were posing as a married couple of terrorists anyway, the action looked fairly normal as Danny bumped into his side and glared up at him.

“We’re on a ship full of people that, if our stolen identities are anything to go by, do not have good intentions and won’t hesitate to sway the odds in their favor. You chase dangerous people, killjoy, but I’ve spent the last several years being shot at by dangerous people as well. You go in armed unless the situation won’t allow for it. That was their oversight, not mine,” Steve murmured to him. Danny grit his teeth at the use of ‘killjoy’, a step back from the amicable (or maybe more than amicable after that kiss) direction they’d been heading in.

“Fine. Let’s just agree to disagree and focus on the task,” Danny replied, tugging his arm loose from Steve’s grasp and moving towards the door the security guard had mentioned. It slid open on approach, a smaller hallway ending in another doorway with another gatekeeper. He palmed the flash drive from his pocket, approaching the guard with a smile.

The guard glowered up at him, less than enthused about his job.

“I suppose this is where we check in,” Danny asked hopefully, trying to sound like a farmer turned novice terrorist, just enough naive without sounding like he had no place being there. Steve hovered at his side, utterly still as he watched the interaction.

“What collateral are you putting up?” The guard extended one hand, the other navigating a screen, tone bored. Danny reluctantly gave him the flash drive and exchanged a look with Steve, waiting as he confirmed they had enough to play. After a moment, the guard snorted softly and pulled the drive out again, handing it back.

“Yeah, you got enough.” The way he said it made Danny think he’d seen a lot more out of the attendees so far. That was fine; they weren’t there to buy the damn thing back, they were there to steal it back. He gave the guard a friendly smile and proceeded past the table, Steve falling into step beside him.

The room itself was nondescript, not much more than a ship hold with a makeshift stage at one end. As was fitting for the illegal auction, the room wasn’t brightly lit, allowing just enough visibility to see to the edges of the room but shadows obscured the far corners and made it harder to distinguish features in a glance. People congregated in groups, conversations nothing but low murmurs, indistinguishable no matter how much Danny tried to listen in as they walked past.

They earned more than a few curious looks, giving their worn clothing a sneer or a calculating look. Farmers, they saw farmers trying to play with the big guys and Danny was fine with that. It led to them being underestimated and they could use every advantage.

“I recognize the look of some of these people,” Steve said softly, leaning towards Danny to keep the conversation low.

“I do too.” Danny nodded in the direction of one group they’d just passed. “They’re from Westerly, fancy themselves some kind of rebel group. They think they’re going to overthrow the Nine, free Westerly from their grasp.”

Steve lifted his chin. “Those guys over there. They’re from the outer system, known for trying to destroy settlements on Naneen to create a monopoly on the water sources. We fought them for well over a year.”

So they were looking at quite the diverse group. “You hearing this, Tani?” Danny rubbed at the spot behind his ear where the invisible patch that held the minute communication technology sat.

“Loud and clear, boss. A lot of bad guys with entitlement issues who want to make a statement with a big bang. I gotcha,” Tani replied. Though she couldn’t see it, Danny grinned, ducking his head to hide it as best he could. “Keep listing and I’ll keep writing.”

Another group of Leithian Nationalists who hated Qreshis. More outer system groups with a laundry list of kidnapping, robbery, and human trafficking to their names. A gang from Westerly that Danny avoided, recognizing at least two of the men as guys he’d grown up with. Unfortunately, that was how it went on Westerly, either backbreaking labor, illegal activity, or begging for your next meal.

Back on the ship, Tani kept up a running commentary as they whispered the names, providing her professional (though most of the time not) opinion on each as she looked them up. It took him a moment to realize she was talking to Junior, not him.

“All right, so while we wait for this show to start, give us an idea of what we might be dealing with here-” Danny’s instructions abruptly ended as Steve fell forward beside him. He reacted instinctively, grabbing for him, but the bolt of electricity that hit his body made sure he blacked out before he even hit the ground.

\-----------

“Hey, you’re awake!”

He didn’t recognize the voice but the owner was entirely too chipper for Danny right then. Every muscle in his body ached, not uncommon when ending up on the business end of an electric prod. His head hung forward, feeling too heavy to lift but too full of fluff to have a coherent thought. He was hanging upright, his shoulders hurting from the strain, toes barely brushing the ground.

 _Hells_.

“Under protest,” he grunted, slowly raising his head.

“Your situation does kind of suck. It makes me feel bad I’m happy to have someone around who isn’t one of those guys to talk to.” Danny forced his eyes open, trying to blink away the blurriness in his vision. Slowly, the big form taking a more defined shape. “It’s been a long couple of weeks.” Dark, curly hair that needed a good taming framed a face smudged with dirt. The other man sat crosslegged on the ground, arms resting on his knees, peering at Danny curiously.

“Who are you?” His voice was rough, nothing a good drink of water couldn’t help.

“Jerry. Jerry Ortega. They called you Danny when they brought you in.” That just created more questions than Danny really needed right then and he groaned, letting his head fall back. Out of his peripheral vision, he caught movement at his side and turned his head to see Steve in the same position, strung up from the ceiling, still out cold.

“Yeah, ‘m Danny. I guess the con is up.” He squinted at Jerry. “What are you even doing in here?”

Before Jerry could respond, a groan from Danny’s side drew their attention to Steve, waking up. He hung there, staring up at the ceiling, blinking slowly.

“Hey soldier man, did they scramble you with the blast?”

Steve’s eyes slowly closed. “It’s sailor, Danny. Navy, not Army,” he growled softly. His eyes fluttered open again and slowly he focused in on Jerry. “Who’s this guy?”

Jerry lifted a cuffed hand in a wave. “Hi, I’m Jerry. I’ve been here a few weeks,” he stated, so casual that Danny wondered what it would take to make this guy panic. Already, his gut was starting to twist with foreboding.

“There’s still my question to answer, buddy. What are you doing here? You can skip the ‘being kidnapped’ because that one kind of speaks for itself.” At his side, Steve started rattling his chains, head tilted back to look up at the ceiling.

“Well, I was with the Company until the Hesse brothers took the ship. I miss that ship. The guards were good guys, you know? Instead of ignoring me, they actually knew how to hold a conversation,” Jerry mused, staring off thoughtfully. “Since then, I’m lucky if I get a grunt. Unless they want something.” He moved his head, the faint light catching his profile just right for Danny to see the bruising along the side of his face.

“Ouch.” As sore as he was, Danny could certainly conjure up some sympathy for the beating. “Wait...Company ship. Company ship hit weeks ago...do you know about the weapon they took?” Very few Company ships were ever hit, the organization too large and too powerful, which meant there was only one ship Jerry could be talking about. The ship that started this whole mission.

Jerry shrugged, looking down at his manacles. For a big guy, he seemed to grow smaller as he pulled his shoulders in. “Actually, it’s up there,” he said, flicking a finger in the direction of his head. “So I guess that’s me. Why?”

Steve stopped struggling or doing acrobatics or whatever the hells he’d been attempting. “You’re the weapon.” He blinked slowly.

Danny wasn’t sure if the weapon still a concept tucked away in Jerry’s head made the situation better or worse. Breaking a human out could possibly be easier than lugging a crate around, but Jerry didn’t look like the kind to enjoy a lot of running, ducking, and fighting either.

“Yup. I haven’t told them anything and it doesn’t exist anywhere but my head, so they let me hang out.” As if they had a choice in the matter.

“What is it?” Danny demanded. “What does it do?”

Jerry gave him an insulted look. “I’m not going to tell you. What if they torture you? They might get an idea.” He glanced to Steve. “Or you. Sorry, it stays locked in my head.” He tilted his chin up resolutely. Danny had to give the guy props for that much.

Steve huffed out a breath, stretching his lanky body out to use the floor to push off from. Before he could follow through, the door slid open and he quickly hung loose on the chains again as someone entered.

Someone all too familiar to Danny.

“You son of a bitch.” Danny managed to get enough of a kick off from the floor to swipe out, but the toe of his boot came just short of kicking his former mentor in the throat. Rick Peterson easily leaned back and then took a step backward, tsking as Danny swung lightly on the chain.

“Is that anyway to treat your superiors, Daniel?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Rick, you only started out my superior. Since then, you’ve only gone lower and lower. This, for example, is a new low,” Danny snarled back, trying in vain to move his hands as he spoke. “At least when I had the misfortune of reporting to you, you limited your corruption to the Company. That wasn’t enough for you?”

Jerry had gone silent, scooting slowly along the wall to get away from Peterson while Steve glared darkly at the Company officer. “Danny? You mind filling me in?”

Peterson’s attention was drawn to Steve when he spoke up, expression dismissive. “Is this the new partner? He’s not as pretty as Tillwell. It’s a pity that partnership ended so suddenly.”

Pure rage, murderous rage, coursed through Danny’s body and he lashed out again. “You ended it, you son of a bitch! You put her in that position!” he bellowed, swinging back as he lost his tenuous footing.

Peterson held up a finger as if Danny was an errant child being reprimanded. “That was never proven, Danny. As a former inspector in the Company’s employ, you should know that if there’s no evidence of wrongdoing, no one can be charged. You could end an innocent man’s career with those accusations.”

Danny tilted his head back, laughing humorlessly. “You’re in the company of terrorists and in possession of a kidnapped employee of the Company. Don’t tell me about how things are supposed to go, unless you want to discuss how the next few minutes are supposed to go. Bad for you, very cathartic for me.”

Once upon a time, the betrayal he felt from the man who gave him the opportunity to be more than just a worker migrating to Leith for farm work stood as the most painful thing he’d ever gone through. This, this just compounded that betrayal, that anger.

“I’m starting to get why you quit and became a RAC agent.” Steve was so carefully respectful of Danny’s profession in that moment, referencing their conversation and digging into Peterson at the same time.

“Of course you’d be as idealistic as Williams.” Peterson shifted to face Steve, mindful of the reach of his legs.

“Better to be idealistic than to be available to the lowest bidder,” Steve replied. “You betrayed your employers for what? A little more joy? Power?”

“That game never ends well for anyone,” Danny added in a mutter, “because as soon as you gain that power, someone else wants it. Nothing comes free, not even the food or trinkets you made people hand over for your protection.” He blew out a breath in frustration. “I couldn’t be like that, be like you, but I never thought that - that you would - “ The rage surged back, so overwhelming, that he sputtered into silence.

“The dynamics of this system are ever changing. To think that the Company will remain at the top forever is to go down with it when someone finally succeeds in overtaking it. You saw the room out there. Small groups now but they will gain followings with their demonstrations and in a year? In two? I’d rather be on the side of the devil with a simple act than to be oblivious and go down with that ship.” Admitting he was pretty much a man with no soul, no heart, something Danny had come to suspect but now had indisputable evidence of.

“Save me the monologue and just kill me.” Danny’s brow furrowed thoughtfully. “Or do you have to call someone in to do that? If I remember correctly, you were always helpless on your own. You always needed one of your recruits to do your dirty work.” He bit the tip of his tongue, feeling darkly petty. “I always wondered who you were screwing to keep getting promotions over me when I did most of the work.” He shook his head. “Well, the legal work. I’m sure you had someone for the less than legal.”

Peterson’s gaze dipped down to Danny’s legs, watching for him to lash out again, then he smiled slowly. “We don’t need the both of you. We certainly don’t need the killjoy. The sailor would be harder to make disappear but the killjoy...they disappear all the time.”

Steve did his absolute stillness thing again, catching Danny’s attention with the shift of his gaze. Then he looked down. Up to Danny, then down again. He was indicating his legs. Legs that were long enough to wrap around a man’s neck and choke the life out of him.

“Then come make me disappear, much like your career had to since I haven’t heard one word since…” It was a small stutter step, as if Peterson started to lunge at him and then changed his mind. Danny’s grip tightened on the chains above his head and he drew his legs up, kicking out as hard as he could. The effort swung him backwards as he connected with Peterson’s chest, sending him crashing backward.

Steve lithely swung up, legs wrapping around Peterson’s neck and holding on tightly. The muscles in his arms stood out as he hung on, Peterson’s hands batting at his legs. Danny hung there helplessly, wanting to help, but it was all out of range now.

Peterson continued to fight Steve, who closed his eyes, face scrunched up with effort. Jerry continued to shrink into the corner, as far away as he could get. Slowly, Peterson started to sink to the ground, his face becoming a deeper purple.

Then Steve jerked his legs, the crack loud as he finally found the leverage to break Peterson’s neck. The body slipped to the floor and Steve went slack in the chains, panting.

“You okay there, babe?” Danny finally ventured. Steve nodded his head in confirmation, eyes closed, drawing in oxygen through his nose and huffing out the breaths. “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“...for getting rid of the asshole.”

“Not that it did much. We’re still in here.”

Danny peered around his arm. “Hey Jerry, buddy. They just secured your hands, right?”

Jerry held up his hands. “I don’t think they felt very threatened by me.” He paused. “They would be right. Unfortunately. I might’ve been able to save myself if I could fight. Those guards wouldn’t have died if…”

“Hey,” Steve interrupted, expression softening. “My name is Steve McGarrett and my father, John, was one of those guards. I haven’t seen him in the while but if there was one thing I always knew about him, it’s that if there was a fight to protect someone, he’d always jump in.” The words were almost desperate, as if Steve needed to know that as much as he needed Jerry to know that. That maybe he needed his father’s sacrifice to make sense, to hold meaning and weight, by reassuring Jerry that things happened just the way they were supposed to.

“The point being,” Danny added, “is you can come over here, search this guy, see if you can find something to get us down. Right?”

Jerry got to his hands and knees, crawling over to Peterson’s prone body. “This is creepy. He’s just staring at me. Are we sure he’s dead?”

“Unless he has a modified spine? He’s dead,” Steve replied dryly. “If you can find a pin of some sort, that will work too. These are easy enough to get out of when you have something to work with-”

Jerry held up a set of keys with a loud jangle, beaming. “Will these work?”

\----------

After the whirlwind events of the last few days, Danny felt strange at rest even as his mind settled into white static noise. It was rare that he wasn’t overthinking every little detail but he couldn’t conjure up the energy to put in the effort. He sat in the pilot’s seat, staring out at the infinite darkness of space, the only light coming from the glow of the panel in front of him.

He felt Steve slide into the co-pilot seat, a silent, unnerving shadow. Danny leaned back in his seat, slumping, hands resting over his stomach as he closed his eyes.

“I think wherever the Company was transporting him, it was Jerry’s first trip of wherever he called a lab home.” He spoke softly as if not wanting to burst the calm of the atmosphere. “The entire time he showered and ate, right up until he fell asleep face down in the pillow, he talked about being part of the action. I’m glad he had a good time because I didn’t.”

Once Jerry got something small, slender, and sharp into Steve’s hands, freeing them all was the easiest step. They’d stripped Peterson’s body of everything useful, Steve donned the uniform, and Danny pocketed his device after taking a picture for proof of death. As much as he disliked the Company, as corrupt as certain factions could be within the organization, they needed to know how dirty one of their own went and that he likely hadn’t done it on his own.

Not surprisingly, Peterson’s death hadn’t done much to resolve many of the issues Danny still had with him.

The warrant called for the execution of Anton and Victor Hesse but stripped of most of their weapons and with Jerry in tow, the only logical choice was to leave. Steve hesitated just as much as Danny did, one wanting the vengeance, the other disliking the idea of being so close and leaving a warrant uncompleted.

It was Jerry that made the decision for them. The lab geek didn’t have the necessary combat survival skills, the minimum required, to come along with them. He was their priority; the rest had to wait for another day.

Not far away from the safety of the ship, they ran into the rescue calvary of Tani and Junior. After the jolt from the prod knocked out communications, they’d mapped out a way in. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as quiet as the first plan, leaving a trail of knocked out guards in their wake. All in all, leaving the ship in their wake had been the smart choice.

It just didn’t sit right regardless.

Steve started to chuckle softly. “I’m sure you’ve had worse,” he replied, stretching his arms over his head. He winced faintly and straightened up.

“Yeah, my shoulders are killing me too. We were hanging there for a while.” They sat in companionable silence for a while longer, Danny mulling over finally heading to bed but his body didn’t agree.

“Peterson...there was some bad history there. So thank you for snapping that bastard’s neck. He deserved to suffer for much, much longer and I had ideas, but time was of the essence. So thank you. Again.” Steve was smart enough to pick up on the much, the history part, and the kill was part of his job description, but it didn’t hurt to show a little gratitude.

“You’re welcome.” The silence stretched out between them again. “Who was Tillwell?”

Danny ran a hand through his hair, giving himself a little time before he answered. “So I was an inspector with the Company, right? I was getting fed up with the whole thing. You watch the people you work with getting away with things, abusing their position. You report it and the paperwork gets lost but karma, she’s a bitch and comes back to give you a swift kick. Those dreams of making a difference, they go out the window. The last straw was watching Peterson and a couple of his cronies get away with beating a guy up because he didn’t hand over payment for protection. I mean, this was the guy who told me if I joined the Company, I’d make a difference. It came right from his mouth.” He sunk down a little farther in his seat, sighing.

“I guess I should’ve read between the lines. Anyway, last straw, I quit. I wasn’t going to compromise myself, my morals, by staying quiet and falling in line. I was at wits end, my marriage already in trouble, no job, no way to support my family, and Grace Tillwell shows up at the tavern I’m drinking myself stupid at. She gives me a pass at first, seeing the Company logo on my coat sleeve. Then after a while, she observes I’m morose and avoiding other Company people, so she comes over and strikes up a conversation.” She kept the drinks coming too and after a point, everything went blurry. “I wake up the next morning, fully clothed and in her bed.” Danny started laughing. “She tells me I was too sad and drunk to go home alone and still married, but I did promise her I would give being a killjoy a shot since she was looking for a partner and I was looking for a job.”

Danny chewed his lip, the laughter fading as he remembered that day, the turn his life took. “I could never prove those guys were behind the so-called accident that got her killed. I tried but every turn I took, every lead I chased, it lead to a dead end. Eventually the higher ups at the Company told the officers at the RAC to keep me in line or pull my badge. It’s okay for their people to harass people but if I do, it’s over the line.”

As Danny spoke, Steve slowly nodded. His gaze was distant but he was still mentally present, listening. “Karma came for him tonight, Danny. It’s not going to purge the corruption at the Company, but you’ve got the proof to at least get his conspirators.” He rose from the seat, leaning over to rest a hand on Danny’s seat. “He paid for the life he took.”

Danny craned his head up, looking at Steve. “I’m going to get the Hesses, you know. That warrant isn’t over and your father, he deserves that kind of peace too. I know once we get Jerry to the RAC tomorrow, we go our separate ways, but I haven’t forgotten what I took on. They’re done.”

Steve licked his lips, looking towards the door. “I know.”

\------------

Long after Steve disappeared to see if the shower was finally open, Danny finally unfolded from the pilot’s chair and shuffled towards his bunk. He wanted nothing more than to climb under a blanket and let sleep take him until Gabby roused him to go about his day. She would certainly be in for a fight the next morning.

He blinked several times when he realized he was staring at the doorway of the bunk Steve temporarily resided in, the doorway that was not at all empty. The towel wrapped around his waist set low on his hips, giving Danny a good look at muscle definition that he suddenly ached to get his hands on, to trace with his fingertips. He chewed on his lip, drifting towards Steve slowly.

Steve hooked his fingers in Danny’s belt then hesitated. “The job’s not over,” he said, brow furrowing, “but our part together, that is.”

Danny rest his hand on the back of Steve’s neck to gently pull him closer. “That’s the part that matters. Nothing we can screw to all the hells now by doing this.” He ran his hand over Steve’s on his belt, helping him move his fingers to undo the leather strap from the buckle. That was enough. Steve took over, pulling the belt loose and letting it drop as he pulled Danny along with him into his bunk.

The towel fell from around Steve’s waist, hitting the ground at their feet and soon followed by Danny’s shirt and pants. The trail of discarded clothing ended when the bunk’s door slid shut behind them.

\-----------------

“We will be arriving at the Reclamation and Apprehension Coalition in two hours.” Gabby’s pleasant tone barely penetrated the haze that surrounded Danny’s mind. He groaned and buried his head in his arms, willing sleep to come back for a few more minutes at least.

Soft lips pressed against the back of his shoulder, a hand running under the sheet and along the curve of his hip, sliding around to the front of his body. Danny’s eyes popped open, arm lifting off his face. “Okay, that is the kind of wake up I can get behind.”

Steve snorted. “We did that last night.” He kissed along Danny’s neck again, sending delightful little shivers down his spine. Damn it, it had been way too long since he rolled in the sack like that. His body ached in a very different way from the night before...well, added to the aches, some pleasant, some not so much. He felt calm, content, at peace.

Danny shifted forward to make room and then rolled onto his back, pulling Steve down to kiss him again. He ran his fingers through that short dark hair, lips brushing over soft lips and day old stubble as he worked along his jaw and then neck. Steve drew in a shuddering breath and closed his eyes, tilting his head to give Danny the full length of his neck.

“I think we can get behind it one last time before we part ways,” Danny whispered. The feeling brought the first reluctance, that it didn’t feel right. Their initial meeting had gone sideways, feelings a little hostile towards each other, but over the course of the last few days, he’d come to trust Steve. Junior and Steve both fit in seamlessly on the ship. Tani certainly seemed to enjoy having Junior around and Danny - Danny didn’t mind Steve so much anymore.

The idea of parting ways in mind, Danny kissed him harder, feeling the desire to make his mark. Leave proof on Steve’s skin that he’d been there, that the last few days happened. He laid his teeth on the skin of Steve’s neck, biting, sucking, working-

“Um, did someone lose some clothing?” Jerry’s voice came from just outside the door, followed by a burst of laughter that definitely belonged to the only female on board. The only non-AI female.

“Commander McGarrett must be helping the boss man perfect his salute.”

Danny buried his face in Steve’s shoulder, face burning red. “The universe couldn’t just give me this one, uninterrupted thing?” he muttered as Steve shook with laughter.

\-----------------

“I’m not going back.”

Danny stopped dead in the middle of the hallway, forcing a RAC employee to suddenly swerve out around him to avoid running into his back. “You what?” he demanded, turning to face Steve. The commander strode forward to catch up with him, grabbing his arm to pull him off to the side.

The debriefing at the RAC lasted for over an hour. Danny, Tani, Steve, and Junior answered question after question, leaving nothing out. It wasn’t the usual operating procedure but the warrant wasn’t the usual run either. Danny presented the proof of Peterson’s involvement to Chin Ho, Steve passed supervision of Jerry over to Commander White. That should have ended their partnership there.

He didn’t expect Steve to chase him down the hallway.

“I just resigned from the Navy, Danny. It’s been my whole life and if it stayed what it was, then I would have stayed. It’s not. I’m looking at becoming a guard on Qresh eventually and I need something else. The last few days? That’s what I need.” Danny hadn’t seen this much animated gesturing or expression out of Steve in the time they spent together, but now there was a spark in his eyes. Excitement. “Junior as well. The kid...the kid reminds me a lot of myself at that age, so I went? So did he.”

Danny held up his hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What you’re telling me, you quit the Navy and...what? What next?” he demanded. The smile started slow on Steve’s lips, growing and growing as Danny’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh no. No, no, no. Tani - I’m sponsoring Tani…”

Steve held up a finger. “Who is at the end of her sponsorship period. She told me herself,” he protested.

“Not without ulterior motive, I’m sure.” Danny pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. “Are you seriously telling me that you want to become a killjoy?”

Steve slid an arm over Danny’s shoulder, guiding him into moving towards the docking bay again. “We end up chasing the same mission, Danny. The men responsible for killing my father worked with the man responsible for the death of your first partner. Working by your side was more what I’m used to doing than what I’ve been doing up until this assignment.”

He made a good point. While Danny didn’t believe in the universe sending out signs, the two of them running into each other, working the same warrant and mission? Scowling, he ran a hand over his face, hoping he didn’t grow to regret what he was about to say.

“Look, if you’re serious...yeah, I’ll sponsor you. You and Junior. However, if you don’t listen to me just because you saw me naked? I’m calling it off,” he stated, stopping to turn and thrusting a finger up into Steve’s face. “Got it?”

Steve rest a hand on Danny’s, pushing it down. “I want this, Danny. I’ll do what I need to. Junior’s a good kid too. He’ll follow orders, treat you with respect. I guarantee that.” His arm returned to resting around Danny’s shoulders again, pulling him into motion once more. “I did say I was making you my partner.”

“Oh no. You meant at the time, for that warrant. You don’t get credit for this-”

“The warrant that is ongoing and I am now a part of. Part of and part of future warrants. Partners.”

“It’s not too late. I can refuse not to agree to sponsoring you.”

“When we get our guy, how do you feel about ‘book ‘em, Danno’?”

**Author's Note:**

> Again, thank you so much for choosing to read this story. I appreciate it so much!
> 
> [Artwork masterpost by 3226629](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14267136). Thank you so much again!


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